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PHIL SOKOLOF, 82, a multimillionaire businessman who used his own wealth to alert Americans to the dangers of cholesterol, died Thursday in Omaha, Neb. Over nearly two decades, he estimated he poured about $15-million into his crusade to get Americans on a healthier diet. His own high cholesterol and 1965 heart attack sparked his interest in cholesterol's effects and the need for the public to know more about them.
NEIL UPMEYER, 57, a former Clearwater resident who became a noted public interest researcher in New Jersey, died April 9 in Lambertville, N.J. From 1990 to 1998, he was president of the Center for Analysis of Public Issues in Princeton, N.J. He was a former vice president of the Gallup Organization, responsible for public affairs research. A Tampa native who was a member of the pioneer McMullen clan, he grew up in Pinellas County and graduated from Clearwater High School.
HELEN SMITH, 84, first lady Pat Nixon's press secretary during the Watergate scandal, died April 9 in Washington, D.C. She joined Mrs. Nixon's press staff in 1968 after having been a secretary in the Washington bureau of the New York Daily News for nine years. She was promoted to press secretary in 1973 and stayed with Mrs. Nixon until President Nixon resigned the following year.
FRED OLIVI, 82, co-pilot of the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, died April 8 in Chicago. He was in the crew of a B-29 called Bockscar that dropped the second atomic bomb on Aug. 9, 1945, three days after the Enola Gay dropped the first bomb on Hiroshima. Six days after the Nagasaki bombing, Japan surrendered and World War II ended.